Winter 2009 Seminar Faculty

Bukowski & Ballard

AAD 199 Controversies in the Visual Arts

The small class size of the Freshman Seminar helps create a sense of community - a chance for students to get to know one another as well as us as the instructors, and a chance for us to gain insight into students' experiences, perspectives, and ideas. The opportunity to speak with students, rather than "at" them, allows generational differences (and similarities) to become part of the discussion. It also provides an avenue for pushing beyond the "what" of differing viewpoints and prying open the "whys."

Controversies over the visual arts - visual imagery, especially the visual world humans create - open windows onto our views of Self and Other, onto what people believe is important to them, and what people believe is important about the actions and beliefs of other people. Like it or not, we all have beliefs about what Other people should do, what would be best for them to believe, how their actions should affect our lives (or not affect us at all), etc. Controversies over visual imagery allow us to explore this darkness in the human soul, the “better angels” of our nature, and the vast grayness in between.

HIST 199 Uncovering the Past of the "Real" Wild West

Dean Walton

LIB 199 Disastrous Inquiries

As an information specialist it's probably natural that I feel compelled to seek out data. My research interests include the dynamic nature of biology and geology and information literacy regarding these subjects.
When the earth's ocean floor ruptured near Aceh, Indonesia and caused a devastating tsunami, I wondered about the physics of the wave and its global propagation. However, I also wondered about the humanitarian side of the event and the extent of international relief needed. Were impoverished areas ignored while money flowed to tourist destinations?
Did countries that pledged millions of dollars in aid actually follow through? Disasters continue to occur, each eliciting new questions that need answers. I could think of no better topic for learning to do research than natural disasters; this is why I decided to teach this course.

Paul Elstone

PPPM 199 American Philanthropy: The Science and Practice of Giving Away Money

The opportunity to be involved with the freshman seminar program is very exciting. As Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations for the UO, I am fortunate to be able to work with many corporations and foundations that support the university and its students, faculty, and programs. This course will provide the students with a window into the increasingly influential world of philanthropy. For universities and many nonprofit organizations, private gifts from individuals, corporations, and foundations can be both a necessity to keep the lights on as well as a vehicle for organizational transformation.

Just talking about the power of philanthropy can be thrilling. People who have not witnessed the impact of a private gift on both the recipient and the donor can be truly moved by the experience. I hope this course will provide just a taste of this experience for the students.

Dave Frohnmayer

PS 199 Theories of Leadership

I teach a Freshman Seminar so I can stay in touch with freshman life and the UO experience. I also like to keep honing my teaching skills. The course allows me to continue to explore highly relevant subject matter for my own professional pursuits. It was great to watch students grow, tangibly, in intellectual and social skills.

RL 199 Love and Exile: Film and Literature

First-year scholars can be inspired and inspiring given that their perspective has not yet compromised the ideal of college as a global experience of world culture beyond the invisible walls of an institution. They are sensing their way for the first time into advanced ideational creativity and conceptual discovery with full imaginations. They are ready to be surprised, even awed, by the origins of why we think and the self-inventing essence of human consciousness in action, in crisis - in the world.

Freshman Seminars evoke new themes and investigations to pry open that world. They draw from all arts and sciences and allow students to enjoy an exploration into great questions of existence that can create the lasting experience of an intellectual and aesthetic community.